Ways Sajid Javid can fix UK’S immigration woes
New policies must replace the hostile and economically illiterate attitude the State has taken towards migrants
The appointment of Sajid Javid, the son of an immigrant, as home secretary, gives me hope that we can now move towards sensible immigration policies which recognise the benefits that migration brings to this country. We need a fundamental change of attitude to immigration and I recommend he implement seven changes in policy. One would be to reintroduce exit checks. Since 1998, Britain has not had physical, visible exit checks at our borders. Passports are checked when people enter the country, but not when they leave. The e-borders system we have in place is not good enough — particularly given the serious security and terrorism threats we face. We need to make sure that every passport, EU and non-eu, is scanned on entry and also when people leave the country. And only by having exit check data will we have a truly accurate picture of net migration.
We must abolish net-migration targets. The Conservatives imposed a target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands. In my view, the net migration target is completely arbitrary and should be scrapped.
It is necessary to be compliant, not hostile, towards immigration. The Home Office’s recently retired Head of Immigration Enforcement, David Wood, believes there may be as many as one million undocumented illegal immigrants in this country. We simply don’t know the true figure but sending vans around the country telling illegal immigrants to go home is not the right way to tackle the problem. Neither is the practice of imposing hostile deportation targets.
Build free trade deals around the movement of people. One mantra at the heart of Brexit is ‘Britain going global’ and forging trade deals around the world, including with India. We must ensure that every among many other such ‘enemies’ that we harbour, consciously or unconsciously.
The word ‘freedom’ has many interpretations but the most precious freedom comes only when one gets rid of all the ills mentioned above. A person free of these bondages can be strong enough to see everything in a positive light and his ways of doing things will benefit others as well.
American poet and singer Jim Morrison says this beautifully: “The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are.” Unless you fail to understand and recognise imbalance is redressed — for example, where Chinese business visitors and tourists may acquire two-year multiple entry visas at a reduced price of £85, for Indians, the price is still £388.
We must meet t he demand for skills. Good immigration policies allow immigration to fill the gaps in the British economy, filling vacancies, whether it is doctors or nurses required by the NHS or chefs for the multibillion pound curry industry which generates millions of pounds for the exchequer annually. Across the board, with a 4.2% rate of unemployment in the UK, we would have an acute labour shortage without workers from overseas, skilled and unskilled, including the 3.7 million EU citizens in the UK.
We should welcome international students. In my role as president of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, which looks after the interests of the 438,000 international students in the UK who contribute £25 billion to the economy, I know that there is cross-party support in both Houses of Parliament. This government must also reintroduce the two-year poststudy work visa, which existed earlier.
Have a target to increase international students. We are in a global race where international students are concerned. Their numbers globally are increasing, with demand from Indian international students increasing by 8% annually. We should have a target to increase the number of international students to the UK.
Looking ahead to Brexit, if we do leave the EU and the single market, we need to ensure that there is free movement of people that exists today — be it for our citizens as tourists overseas, be it for the over 3.7 million EU citizens who work in the UK or for the 20% of our academics at our leading universities who are from the EU. Far from being a burden on this country, EU citizens in this country contribute six times more than they take out in public services, and operate at every level from low skilled to high skilled, in both the public and private sectors.
We must use existing EU regulations that already give control of EU migration. One of the main reasons for Brexit was to take back control of borders and immigration. Yet we have been able to control our borders without leaving EU since 2004, when a directive allowed EU countries to repatriate EU nationals if they cannot support themselves after three months. Britain has never implemented this regulation. We have never used this EU directive: why?
WITH A 4.2% RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UK, WE WOULD HAVE AN ACUTE LABOUR SHORTAGE WITHOUT WORKERS FROM OVERSEAS, SKILLED AND UNSKILLED, INCLUDING THE 3.7 MILLION EU CITIZENS
yourself, you are far from the freedom that makes you feel good and worthy of doing good things for the benefit of mankind. And as long as you wear the mask of ill-feelings, you are running away from your own good self. You are destroying your own innate qualities more than you can harm others. That leads you, ultimately, to becoming a miserable wreck.